Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

AI agents are quickly moving from experimentation to real-world deployment in network operations — but how do you adopt them without introducing unnecessary risk? In this session from AI for Network Leaders – Powered by Selector, Du’An Lightfoot shares a practical framework for building and deploying AI agents in production network environments. He covers: This session cuts through the hype and provides a clear, actionable model for teams looking to move from AI as a tool to AI as a teammate.

AI Leaders in Networking Roundtable | Greg Freeman, Du’An Lightfoot, Jeremy Shulman, William Collins, Scott Robohn & John Capobianco (Moderator)

AI Agents & Model Context Protocol John Capobianco, Head of Developer Relations at Selector, dives deep into AI Agents and the Model Context Protocol (MCP). In this session, John demonstrates Selector MCP in action — running as a client-server, connecting multimodal inputs, and even talking to Selector using microphone + TTS audio via Gemini CLI. He also showcases Sebastian Maniak’s Claude Desktop integration, where Selector MCP powers a chatGPT-like UI for network engineers. A practical look at how MCP is transforming AI into a true digital co-worker.

Building Your First GenAI RAG Application John Capobianco, Head of Developer Relations at Selector, walks through a 6-step process for building your first GenAI RAG application. From foundational building blocks to the path toward full AI agents, RAG remains a powerful tool with huge ROI. Even in a world of autonomous agents and MCPs, RAG is still one of the best ways for network engineers and IT leaders to query dozens of sources and unlock real value.

Strategic Imperatives for Infrastructure Leaders in an AI-Enabled World William Collins, Director of Technical Evangelism at Itential, explores the strategic imperatives facing infrastructure leaders in today’s AI-enabled world. He unpacks the Gartner Hype Cycle, the true monetary costs of network downtime, and shows how Itential + Selector can close the loop on AIOps with autonomous agents and MCPs.

Selector automates network device discovery and synchronization with CMDB. It enables zero-touch provisioning through continuous scanning, SNMP-based telemetry collection, and real-time inventory updates.